Page:The statutes of Wales (1908).djvu/87

Rh rages of Severn Se castith ther up much sand. From Kenfik to Aber-Avon a 2 miles by low shore, parte morisch and sandy with the rages of Severn."

In the same year (by 1-2 and, c. 15) the privileges of the Lords Marchers temporal were extended to spiritual Lords Marchers, whose interests had been forgotten in the previous Act of 1535.

A.D. 1557.—During the same reign an Act (4-5 and, c. 2) came into operation "for the having of horse armour and weapons in ." This was intended for the better defence of the realm, but in the 18th section a proviso was inserted whereby the Act was not to extend to persons dwelling within the counties of and. These were required only to find one long-bow and one sheaf of arrows, over and besides such other armour as it was the custom to provide. This Statute repealed all other Acts respecting the keeping of armour and horses, and shows the quantity and kind of armour and weapons that were to be furnished and kept, at that time, by persons of different estates. It is possible to ascertain from its terms the proportion of the several kinds of troops maintained then for national defence. The military authorities of that period were not very solicitous to introduce the general use of fire-arms into the country, for they considered the long-bow equal in efficiency to the small firearm or arquebus (known also and referred to in this Act as the Haquebut or Hachbutt). The skill and reputation of the archer with his long-bow had been firmly established for centuries. Giraldus Cambrensis describes the bows in his time as made of wild elm, unpolished, rude, and uncouth, not only calculated to shoot an arrow to a great distance, but also to inflict very severe wounds in close fight. The bow-armed from Gwent and Morganwg were the allies of  the First. the Seventh in 1508 by statute forbad the use of the cross-bow, in order to induce the more frequent practice of